Iran nuclear talks reach draft deal to export enriched uranium

Negotiators in Vienna have produced a draft agreement on exporting Iran’s enriched uranium. The countries involved have been given until Friday to ratify the proposals.

Under the draft deal, most of Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium would be shipped out of the country for processing into fuel to make medical isotopes in a research reactor in Tehran.

Negotiators were unable to clinch a final agreement after more than two days of talks in the Austrian capital, apparently because the Iranian delegation, led by the ambassador to Vienna, did not have the authority to sign a far-reaching deal about which there was no consensus in Tehran.

Announcing the draft deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director, Mohamed ElBaradei, said it represented a balanced approach, offering to provide Iran with fuel for making medical isotopes, while building international confidence in Iran’s intentions by shipping much of its enriched uranium out of the country.